Is religion the new politics? The response to Madeleine Bunting's column on Monday in which she took on the "hysterical" outpourings of the New Atheist movement -- the piece attracted 549 postings from readers within two days when it appeared on Comment is Free -- suggests faith is a subject that excites readers like almost no other.

The subject also excited this morning's conference as journalists across the paper testified to the ability of faith to ignite debate at levels unimaginable a few years ago. What had changed? Was it a reaction to 9/11 or did it speak to slower-burning anxieties over cultural identity?

One of our editors thought the ways in which religion touched on broader issues in society, from education to terrorism, had brought people who previously regarded themselves as "non-political" into the debate. Another sensed that this was "the 1960s all over again", but with religion standing for politics. Certainly, for Madeleine Bunting, New Atheism itself was "deeply political".

So what is the debate? Isn't it just about Islam, asked one of our number. Not at all, came the chorus. From concerns about the influence of the religious right over politics and science in America to battlelines between those who take a scientific view of the world and those who hold a religious line, debate seems to flourish wherever faith touches the ground.

Any mention of Richard Dawkins -- and Madeleine had given him quite a dusting up -- is guaranteed to fill a mailbag, not only from readers defending their faith but from other scientists who feel the author of books including the Selfish Gene and The God Delusion is missing a trick. In what some of our number also found his "dogmatic" and "antagonistic" style, were we losing out on a more revealing evolutionary exploration of why spirituality mattered to our species?

Strongly held opinions are not necessarily widely held opinions, as one writer reminded us. Indeed a poll conducted by the Guardian last December found that non-believers outnumbered believers in Britain by almost two to one. And yet half of those who said they were not religious described themselves as Christian, which perhaps explains why we can see church attendance continuing to decline while passionate debate takes place from the nation's armchairs.

A Muslim journalist in the room said that from where she stood it was more than just talk: she had observed only an increase in piety among the people she knew within the Islamic community. How this impinged on science in Islam she did not know . . . but a phonecall to the Association of Muslim Scientists is now on her to-do list.